National Weather Service data confirm that Washington's summer-like heat in the first week of April was unprecedented in 140 years of records dating back to 1871. Steve Zubrick of the NWS office in Sterling, VA has reported to CapitalClimate that the April 1-7 average temperature not only exceeded the modern record in 1981 by over 4°, but it also surpassed by over 2° the 65.4° average in the very warm early April of 1929. (The daily record highs of 94° and 93° on the 7th and 8th in 1929 still stand. Temperatures cooled considerably later in the month, however, and 1929 ended with an average of 57.6°, which is now only the 29th warmest April.)

In the records of Dulles Airport dating back only to 1962, this year's April 1-7 average of 67.7° smashed by over 7° the previous record of 60.4° in 1988.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

April 8, AM Update: This morning's low of 69° is 9° above the record warm minimum for April 8. In the unlikely event that this reading were to hold through the approach of a strong cold front this evening, it would tie the all-time April warm minimum on April 19, 1896.

Dulles Airport has already tied 1 and set 2 record warm minimums in the last 3 days:

April 5 51 (tie)April 6 61 April 7 65

This morning's low of 67° is 14° above the current record of 53° set in 1983 and is 1° above the all-time April record warm minimum of 66° in 1977.

5 PM Update: Today's high of 90° brings the average for the first week of April up to 67.6°, over 4° above the old record. Other highs, including a new record by 7° at Dulles:

Washington Dulles 91° Baltimore/BWI 90°

2 PM Update: As of 2:00, the highs are (new record at Dulles):

Washington National 88°Washington Dulles 89° Baltimore/BWI 88°

Original post:Following a low of 63°, the Washington, DC noon temperature is now up to 79°. This clinches a record high average temperature for the first week of April since at least 1930, when records began at or near the current location of National Airport. With an expected high in the upper 80s, the average for April 1-7 will be close to a remarkable 4° above the previous record in 1981.

Original post: The recent early April warmth in the eastern U.S. has extended well into northern New England this weekend. On Saturday, Caribou, Maine utterly demolished its daily temperature record for April 3 with a high of 82°. This smashed the old record of 58° by 24° and exceeded the long-term average by an astonishing 41°. For an equivalent low temperature record to be set, it would have to be as cold as 17° below zero. The low for the day of 43° was 2° above the normal high. Climate records at Caribou date back to 1939. Caribou followed this with a more modest reading of 73° today, breaking the 1987 record of 62°.

Also exceeding their records in northern New England and New York by a wide margin on April 3 were (old record and date in parentheses):